1. Field of the Present Invention
The present invention relates to a cup holder for a vehicle, and more particularly, to a cup holder for a vehicle, which can maximally prevent upward, downward, right, and left movement of a cup support member.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Generally, a cup holder which can receive and support a beverage can, a cup, or the like (which is commonly called a cup) is provided in a vehicle, and accommodate the cup if necessary after a user drinks a beverage.
Such a cup holder is provided to prevent a cup from falling down or shaking while driving, and is formed on a crash pad or a console box, or attached to a predetermined region of the vehicle.
As the simplest structure, a cup holder in the related art has a structure in which a groove for simply accommodating the cup is formed on an upper surface of a crash pad or a console box. This cup holder, however, is unable to accommodate all cups having diverse sizes and is also unable to support the cup properly.
That is, since the groove is formed in a console box with an equal size, the size of the cup that can be accommodated is fixed. In particular, if the size of the cup does not coincide with the size of the groove, the cup may secede from the groove or fall down while driving, and in this case, the beverage flows out of the cup to get the inside of the vehicle dirty and to cause an accident during driving.
Accordingly, in order to support a cup more stably, U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2005/0001127 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,170,980 disclose constructions in which a rotatable cup support member is installed in a groove where a cup is received.
In particular, U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2005/0001127 discloses a cup holder including a cup support member which is rotated around the Z axis to divide off a reception region and includes a wall passing around approximately 180° and a rotary dish, a torsion spring for rotating the cup support member, and a diameter-compensating flap which is rotated by manipulation of a button and releases the locking state of the cup support member.
If a user presses the button downward, the diameter-compensating flap is rotated in association with the pressed button to release the locking state of the cup support member, and as a result, the cup support member is rotated counterclockwise to be in a cup supportable state.
In this case, a guide portion which guides the cup support member when the cup support member is rotated against an accommodating tray is illustrated in FIG. 1. That is, on a bottom surface of the accommodating tray 110, a pair of first guide ribs 132 are partially formed in opposite positions, and on a bottom surface of the cup support member 140, a pair of assembly holes 115, into which the first guide ribs 132 are inserted to be assembled, are formed in positions that correspond to the first guide ribs 132. Between the pair of assembly holes 115, a second guide rib 143 is formed to be guided along the first guide ribs 132.
An engaged structure of the first guide ribs 132 and the second guide rib 143 is as illustrated in FIG. 2. That is, the second guide rib 143, which is integrally formed on a bottom surface of the cup support member 140 in “L”-shape in cross section along the circumferential direction thereof, is insertion-engaged with the first guide ribs 132 through the assembly holes 115 formed in the accommodating tray 110. Accordingly, the cup support member 140 can be rotated against the accommodating tray 110 in a state where the upward, downward, right, and left movement of the second guide rib 143 is hindered by the first guide ribs 132.
However, in the above-described cup holder in the related art, the second guide rib 143 has a structure that is rotated in a body with the cup support member 140, and thus if the cup support member 140 is rotated over a predetermined angle, the second guide rib 143 secedes from the first guide rib 132. Accordingly, the cup support member 140 is concerned to move against the accommodating tray 110, and thus the rotating angle of the cup support member 140 should be limited (to about 95°.
Also, if the size of the accommodating tray 110 becomes too large to cause the dimensional inferiority of the first guide ribs 132, the first guide rib 132 and the second guide rib 143 are not normally engaged with each other, and thus it becomes difficult to hinder the movement of the cup support member 140.
On the other hand, in the mechanism where the cup support member 140 is lock-released from the accommodating tray 110, if a user presses the button 170, the diameter-compensating flap 105, which is locked with the cup support member 140, is rotated, and as a result, a pin provided on the cup support member 140 secedes from the groove formed in the diameter-compensating flap 105 to rotate the cup support member 140 to a use position (a position for supporting the cup).
However, since the cup holder in the related art has a structure in which the diameter-compensating flap is associated with the button 170, the position of the diameter-compensating flap should be changed in order to change the position of the button 170, and thus the design degree of freedom deteriorates.
The information disclosed in this Background of the present invention section is only for enhancement of understanding of the general background of the present invention and should not be taken as an acknowledgement or any form of suggestion that this information forms the prior art already known to a person skilled in the art.